Who's That Knocking at My Door
Movie, 1967, The '60s, Set in Little Italy
Who's That Knocking at My Door is #1 of 26 in release order and #1 of 26 in chronological order in the Martin Scorsese.
The story
A Catholic New Yorker falls in love with a girl and wants to marry her, but he struggles to accept her past and what it means for their future.
Who's That Knocking at My Door recap
Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967) follows J.R., a young Italian American in New York who falls for a woman he meets on the Staten Island Ferry. Martin Scorsese wrote and directed it as his first feature, and Harvey Keitel makes his screen debut as J.R., with Zina Bethune as the young woman, who is never given a name. J.R. spends his days drinking and fooling around with his friends in Little Italy, and the romance grows through long talks about movies. He wants to marry her and refuses to sleep with her before the wedding, believing she is a virgin. When she tells him she was once raped by a former boyfriend, he cannot accept it, rejects her, and goes back to wild nights with his friends. Scorsese began it in 1965 as a student short and expanded it into a feature. As the first entry in his filmography, it comes before his Roger Corman picture Boxcar Bertha and introduces the Catholic guilt of Mean Streets.
Who's That Knocking at My Door ending explained
Who's That Knocking at My Door ends with J.R. returning to the woman at dawn to say he forgives her and will marry her anyway. She tells him that a marriage cannot work if her past weighs on him like that. He lashes out and calls her a whore, then takes it back, confused, and she sends him home. J.R. goes to confession at his church and finds no comfort there. Scorsese reworked the same themes, and Keitel, in Mean Streets six years later.
Post-credits scenes
No. Who's That Knocking at My Door has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Who's That Knocking at My Door
Who's That Knocking at My Door isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 6.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes 71%
Where it fits
- Release order: first, before Boxcar Bertha.
- Chronological order: first, before Boxcar Bertha.
Cast
- Harvey Keitel as J.R.
- Zina Bethune as The Girl
- Anne Collette as Girl in Dream
- Lennard Kuras as Joey
- Michael Scala as Sally Gaga
- Harry Northup as Harry
- Tsuai Yu-Lan as Girl in Dream
- Saskia Holleman as Girl in Dream
- Bill Minkin as Iggy at Party
- Philip Carlson as Boy in Copake
- Wendy Russell as Gaga's Girl
- Robert Uricola as Boy with Gun
Directed by Martin Scorsese.